The present invention relates to cups and, more particularly, to a cup assembly formed by a disposable liner and a disposable holder for receiving said liner.
It is common practice for office workers to be provided with hot beverages such as coffee, tea and hot chocolate. A low cost and highly sanitary method of distributing such beverages is to offer a limited number of reusable holders for using disposable plastic liners. Examples of such liners and holders are shown and described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 3,596,795. While such a system typically works well, problems can arise. For example, some of the holders may be lost or a worker might accumulate a number of holders at his or her work station thus depleting the number of holders available for use by others. If the holders are all out, a person desiring a drink would be left with only the liners which would become too hot to comfortably handle. Additionally, liners typically have a bottom wall which is of small diameter and/or is not flat so that they are somewhat unstable when set down which might promote spilling of the liquid. After repeated use, the holders may become soiled and require washing.